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Midlands Construction Summit review #MCSummit

Attending our first MCS at the Ricoh Arena the home of Coventry City FC and Wasps Rugby we were very keen to network with common minded people and exchange ideas about how we can solve some of the main challenges facing the construction sector.

Mark Wakeford of Stepnell http://www.stepnell.co.uk opened the conference and handed over to keynote speaker Adrian Belton Chief Exec of CITB http://www.citb.co.uk . Adrian gave us an overview of the work that CITB have been doing to improve the visibility and attractiveness of the construction sector.

Adrian Speller of http://www.spellermetcalfe.com did an awesome overview of the work they are doing in trying to use innovation to engage youngsters via technology and particularly BIM. We were very impressed with the work they are doing on their Advance 2 project with Dudley College.

In session 2 some excellent presentations were delivered on the image and reputation of the construction industry to youngsters. This is an ongoing issue across the sector and with headline stats such as 2.11m people being employed in construction generating 6.5% of the UK’s GDP and 400,000 people retiring in the next 5 – 10 years we have some real skills shortages challenges.

Mike Petter of Considerate Constructors Scheme https://www.ccscheme.org.uk gave real insight into the reputation of the industry and Andy Robinson of Colmore Tang http://www.colmoretang.com delivered a very thought provoking view on what construction needs to do to captivate people across all platforms.

All in all we had an awesome day. Lots of leads generated and always learning and sharing experiences with clients old and new.

In an industry that delivers 69% of projects on budget and 40% of projects on time surely things have to change and with open minds and prepared to learn new skills this sector can get back some credibility and recruit and retain some of the UK’s brightest minds.